Method for Classifying a Substrate

1. A method for classifying a substrate comprising: providing a substrate; producing an inspection map of the substrate; providing a database having a plurality of data, each of the data having a layout of active areas and its corresponding allowable defect count; and dividing the inspection map according to each of the layouts of active areas, wherein the divided inspection map is compared with the corresponding allowable defect count of each of the layouts of active areas for classifying the substrate.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the database is stored in a computer system.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein a method for producing the inspection map comprises: scanning a plurality of sub-regions of the substrate by using a surface scan apparatus for inspecting defects within the sub-regions and their corresponding positions; and recording the defects of the surface of the substrate and their corresponding positions for producing the inspection map.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the database is stored in the surface scan apparatus.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the substrate is a glass substrate of a flat panel display, and the data of the database corresponds to layouts of active areas and their corresponding allowable defect counts of glass substrates of a plurality of types of flat panel displays.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the surface of the glass substrate is covered with at least a thin film, and the thin film is chromium (Cr) or indium tin oxide (ITO).

7. A method for defining active areas of a substrate and classifying the substrate comprising: providing a substrate and its corresponding inspection map; providing a database having a plurality of data, each of the data having a pre-determined layout of active areas and its corresponding allowable defect count; and performing a comparing process to compare the inspection map with each of the data for selecting at least one datum coinciding with the inspection map, defining the active areas of the substrate according to the layout of active areas of the datum coinciding with the inspection map, and classifying a classification of the substrate.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the comparing process comprises comparing the inspection map with the corresponding allowable defect count of each of the data for selecting the datum whose allowable defect count is larger than the inspection map.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the datum coinciding with the inspection map is a datum whose allowable defect count is larger than the inspection map.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein when more than one datum coincide with the inspection map, the data coinciding with the inspection map are sorted according to priority for determining a preferable datum, the active areas of the substrate are defined according to the layout of the preferable datum, and the substrate is classified and stored.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the database is stored in a computer system and the comparing process is performed in the computer system.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein a method for producing the inspection map comprises: scanning a plurality of sub-regions of the substrate by using a surface scan apparatus for inspecting defects within the sub-regions and their corresponding positions; and recording the defects of the surface of the substrate and their corresponding positions for producing the inspection map.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the database is stored in the surface scan apparatus, and the comparing process is performed by the surface scan apparatus.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the substrate is a glass substrate of a flat panel display, and the plurality of data of the database corresponds to layouts and their corresponding allowable defect counts of glass substrates of a plurality of types of flat panel displays.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the surface of the glass substrate is covered with at least a thin film, and the thin film is chromium (Cr) or indium tin oxide (ITO).

16. A method for defining active areas of a substrate comprising: providing a substrate; scanning the substrate for obtaining an inspection map; providing a database having a plurality of data, each of the data having a pre-determined layout of active areas and its corresponding allowable defect count; dividing the inspection map according to the layout of active areas; and comparing the inspection map with the corresponding allowable defect count when the inspection map is smaller than or equal to the corresponding allowable defect count of the layout of active areas, and defining the active areas of the substrate according to the layout of active areas.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the database is stored in a computer system.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein a method for scanning the substrate comprises: scanning a plurality of sub-regions of the substrate by using a surface scan apparatus for inspecting defects within the sub-regions and their corresponding positions; and recording the defects of the surface of the substrate and their corresponding positions for producing the inspection map.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the database is stored in the surface scan apparatus.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein the substrate is a glass substrate of a flat panel display, and the plurality of data of the database corresponds to layouts and their corresponding allowable defect counts of glass substrates of a plurality of types of flat panel displays.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the surface of the glass substrate is covered with at least a thin film, and the thin film is chromium (Cr) or indium tin oxide (ITO).